


coming out of my cage

by ontheoppositeside



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, Male Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 21:31:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1914552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ontheoppositeside/pseuds/ontheoppositeside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is no explanation for the panic that he’s fighting right now. Well there technically is a reason but Luke doesn’t want to think about what it means or why it even exists. He can’t let himself think about it. He rolls his neck to ease the tension in his back.</p><p> </p><p>Luke has never been one to lie to himself but he can’t seem to help himself where Calum is concerned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	coming out of my cage

**Author's Note:**

> First of all I have to thank [Emmybazy](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmybazy/pseuds/Emmybazy) because without her reading my first draft I would not have rethought everything. However, every mistake is still mine but she rocks and if you haven't read her Cake fics why not???
> 
> Secondly, I am so happy I am finally posting this because I've thought way too much about this fic that after posting this I won't have to anymore!!! How great is that?

Luke paces in the confined space of the hotel room. He’d sit but he has too much pent up energy to stay put in one place, too many thoughts seeking attention. He drags a hand through his damp hair and wipes it on his faded jeans. Luke makes his way to his bed where his suitcase sits open, clothes spilling out. He ruffles through the mess of clean clothes, distractedly, but doesn’t find what he wants. He glances to the bed besides his and indulges in the idea of using one of Calum’s shirts. In the end, however, he decides against it and finally chooses a crumpled, old and faded, white T-shirt.

 

He pulls the shirt over his head and lets out a breath, relishing in the softness of the shirt against his skin. It fits like a glove. As he breathes in deep, he fights the panic rising inside of him. It’s like a flame.

 

There is no explanation for the panic that he’s fighting right now. Well there technically is a reason but Luke doesn’t want to think about what it means or why it even exists. He can’t let himself think about it. He rolls his neck to ease the tension in his back.

 

Luke has never been one to lie to himself but he can’t seem to help himself where Calum is concerned.

He turns on his heel putting a brake to that train of thought and decides that he needs to brush his teeth. He doesn’t acknowledge that he’s already brushed his teeth when he got out of the shower—what matters is that he needs to do something instead of letting his mind wander. He doesn’t consider watching television because he won’t focus on it and before he knows it he’ll be thinking about what he doesn’t want to think about. He winces, not thinking is making his head hurt.

 

He spits into the sink and looks up into his eyes, bypassing the red outlining his lower eyelids. He didn’t exactly cry when he returned to the room. It’s just that trying to ignore the reality of Calum always being surrounded by women can become too much sometimes. It’s realizing that he is reacting to these situations not as a friend but as a jealous—

 

 _STOP_.

 

Luke scrunches up his face at the onslaught of thoughts. Not thinking is as effective as shaking off the water off this toothbrush, he thinks but then he freezes. One moment the hotel is as quiet as a hotel can be the next the hotel door is opened and then clicks close. He sets the toothbrush on the counter, gently.

 

He feels slightly light headed as the blood rushes from his face and his stomach turns over. He takes one breath, two—focused on getting himself under control. _It’s just Calum, it’s just Calum, it’s just--_

 

He strains his ears and hears shuffling feet over carpet. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and counts to ten, hoping that his body language won’t betray him. He’ll smile at Calum and climb into bed. Tomorrow everything will be back to normal and he’ll be able to ignore this once more. He’ll ignore it until he’s old and wrinkly—too old to jump on stage and play guitar.

 

He swallows his uneasiness and palms his jean pockets for his phone and his earphones. He sets the earphones in his ears but does not turn on the music.

 

Luke opens the door, expecting the worse. _A girl in a mini-dress draped over Calum? Kissing him, grinding on him, moaning at his touch?_ No, of course not.

 

He can’t help the wash of relief when he sees Calum sitting on his bed (Calum’s not Luke’s) working on the shoelaces of one of his dress shoes, knee by his face. His suit jacket is lying next to him.

 

Calum looks up at him and smiles. Luke smiles back or so he tries, the muscles in his face too rigid from the amount of time he spent thinking about girls and Calum.

 

_Shut up._

Something must show on his face because the smile disappears just as quickly as it appeared. Calum looks back down at his shoe.

 

Luke tries to swallow through the lump in his throat that suddenly materializes. He stands for a second longer in the bathroom door threshold, waiting, but Calum doesn’t look up. He finally walks to his bed

 

He is tilting his head back on the soft pillows when Calum’s voice cuts through the low tones of the music. He’d taken the phone out and turned it on while he shifted and bumped into a comfortable position on the unfamiliar bed.

 

Luke opens his eyes, surprised that he has to open them, but no more surprised than he is to find Calum standing next to his bed. His heart thunders in his throat.

 

“I’m sorry I didn’t--” he coughs through the tremble in his voice, “—I didn’t catch that.” He strains his head back to better look at Calum’s face and not the disarray that is his white dress shirt. The shirt is a few buttons unbuttoned from the top, showing too much collar bone and a lot of skin. Or maybe the shirt is in perfect condition—it’s Luke’s thoughts that are a mess.

 

Calum frowns, eyebrows ridiculously expressive, but he repeats himself, “Are you okay?”

 

Luke wants to laugh. _Is Calum joking?_ The answer is no, not with the intensity that those brown eyes search his.

 

“Peachy.” Sometimes Luke shouldn’t talk. Sometimes he should let the silence communicate his feelings.

 

He sees the change from worry to annoyance take place on Calum’s face. Or it’s maybe the fact that Calum steps away from him and strides back to his bed, sliding the zipper open on his suitcase.

 

“You don’t have to be an asshole.” Calum retorts, rifling through his clothes once the suitcase is opened. He looks back at Luke, “ _I_ —just--,” Calum shakes his head, “You know what, never mind,” Calum turns his attention back to his clothes.

 

Despite everything, despite trying to stomp the ridiculousness of having non friendly feelings, Luke finds himself asking with sudden bitterness, “How was she?”

 

“What?” Calum straightens, brown eyed gazed zeroed on him.

 

Luke should be basking in it, relishing it. Finally, Calum is only looking at him. Instead he feels sick.

 

Luke sits up, “The girl that was hanging off your neck, very cute. Nice--” he stops, eyes flicking away from Calum, words escaping him, “—nice boobs even if they were quite small.” He glances at Calum, trying to smile, but Luke thinks that smile might have been more of a sneer. His face is not obeying him.

 

The girl had been very pretty, with a tight black dress, loose curly hair and completely and utterly entranced with Calum. Luke had wanted to pry her perfect manicured hands off Calum’s arm at one point. Every time he looked up from his glass, or over the head of the person he was with, there she was with Calum. Yet, it had been when Luke had seen Calum and her closer than two strangers should be in a corner far away from the main event that he’d had enough. He’d left but not before giving a short goodbye to Ashton and Michael. Neither of the two had questioned his early exit even when it ignored the fact that they were expected to stay until the party ended. He hadn’t been able to stomach a goodbye to Calum.

 

The confusion on Calum’s face disappears as he scowls looking away from Luke and grabbing random clothing.

 

Luke’s stomach sinks further but at that same time recklessness takes over him. He’s off the bed before Calum has taken more than two steps toward the restroom.

 

“Calum.”

 

Calum stops not turning around to face him but says over his shoulder, “What?” He’s not yelling, voice calm contrasting to the abruptness in which he chose his clothes. 

 

Luke knows he’s acting ridiculous. He’s not acting like a friend. _Would a friend be this interested in their friend’s love life? But what if she wanted more? What if she wanted to marry Calum??? What if--_

 

“Calum--” Before he can finish, Calum turns to face him, clothes tightly clutched in his left hand.

 

The shock on Calum’s face, because of their closeness, quickly disappears, “Why do you care so much?” with each word uttered Calum steps forward, taking big steps and Luke suddenly finds the back of his legs crashing into a bed. He stumbles but manages to keep his balance.

 

Once Calum finishes his question, he looks away from Luke, muttering, “Typical.”

 

“What do you mean?” Luke bites his lip in confusion.

 

Calum makes a noise and turns away from him again.

 

Luke frowns, moving forward, “Ca--” He wants to grab Calum’s arm but he feels that would be too invasive— _too confrontational._

 

“No,” Calum has turned to face him again and steps closer, speaking into his face, “me and you are just friends.”

 

Luke stops breathing. Calum is so close, close enough to kiss, lips puckered in a pout. Sad eyes as he steps back, away from Luke, shoulders hunched.

 

Luke struggles to steady his hammering pulse, “I know we’re just friends. I just want to know--”

 

“—if I fucked her?” Calum finishes for him and straightens up immediately, letting go of the clothes. His mouth sets in a line and he turns away from Luke, hands moving up to his face. When he turns back to Luke, he runs a hand through his hair, tussling it into perfect disorder.

 

In a pulse of a second, Calum responds in a much quieter tone, “Why would I fuck her?” He cocks his head to the side, eyes roaming down Luke’s body. Luke feels the gaze as an x-ray and instantly folds his arms over his chest to protect himself but he knows that Calum sees more than what Luke has said.

 

Calum grimaces and walks to the bathroom door. He opens it and pauses. Calum turns again to face him.

 

“How can I be with anyone since— _we_ \--” Calum doesn’t finish and just looks at him and everything Luke had ever wanted to see: love, want, lust, fear, hurt—visible.

 

The question is like a slap. Calum is a noose around his neck. “No. I don’t want to talk about it.” He turns away to walk back to his bed—to do what exactly—he hasn’t thought that far ahead. A hand tightens around his upper arm.

 

“Let’s talk about this now.” The words are warm in his ear. Calum is warm heat behind his back and his body is suddenly hyperaware of everything. Every nerve-ending on alert. Luke bites his lip and waits. Maybe it’s time to finally get over this tension.  

 

Luke skin feels too small for his body as his heart hammers in anticipation.

 

“You asked about the woman,” If Luke leaned back, he would be met with the solidness of Calum’s chest. Would Calum embrace him, pull him against his body? Hold him? “I don’t even remember her name.” Calum murmurs, absentmindedly, and Luke says nothing, focused on paying attention to Calum’s words instead of their closeness.

 

Luke can’t explain it but he feels when Calum steps away from him. One moment he is burning up because of Calum and the next he’s alone. Calum talks again but this time the words aren’t a caress on his ear or his neck.

 

“If you want to pretend that—that we—that _it_ never happened,” Calum falls silent and Luke would turn to face him but he doesn’t, “Fine—well it’s not--” Calum pauses, maybe to collect his thoughts, “we can try to ignore everything but you don’t need—I’ll spend my time with—I’ll _fu_ —I’ll do what I want.” Each word becomes more brittle than the one before and Luke closes his eyes and breathes through his mouth.

 

He winces when the bathroom door closes.

***

Luke sits against the wall, pillows cushioning his back when Calum opens the bathroom door. Steam escapes through the open doorway as Calum stands in the threshold. Luke’s mouth falls open when he sees Calum shirtless and his pants are riding low on his hips.

 

Calum doesn’t acknowledge him and instead crouches next to his bed and pulls a bag from underneath it to put in his dirty underwear. He pulls out a hanger from that bag and walks back into the restroom.

 

Luke lets out a breath, slowly, fully aware of his lungs as it leaves his body. The tightness in his chest loosens. He closes his eyes but Calum’s torso with water droplets is etched into his mind.

 

Calum’s voice jars Luke from his fantasy and he’s not disappointed ( _he’s not_ ) that Calum has put on a black long sleeved shirt. And he definitely, _absolutely,_ is not fascinated with Calum’s curly wet hair. “I’m going to meet up with Michael.”

 

“Okay.” Luke replies, lifting the corners of his mouth.

 

Calum nods as he pockets his things.

 

Before Calum can walk out the door, Luke asks, “Why did you return--so early?”

 

Calum says nothing for a moment and Luke thinks he won’t answer.

 

Finally Calum says over his shoulder, “I was worried.”

 

Luke raises his eyebrows.

 

“You were there and then you were gone and you didn’t say goodbye.”

 

“Oh.” Luke looks away from Calum and stares at the ceiling.

 

The door clicks shut after a second of thick silence.

 

 _Yes, Calum always knows more than Luke wants to let him see_.

 

He’s drifting to sleep when he sits up.

 

 _Calum returned early. (About an hour after Luke left. Luke had not been keeping time for when Calum arrived. Really he wasn’t.)_ His forehead wrinkles as he ponders _,_ _if the way Michael and that girl had been glued to each other was any indication of what was going to happen later then Calum was not going to meet with Michael._

 

Luke groans and covers his face with a pillow. _Ahhhhh!_ He groans into it but he lets it drop away after awhile and turns on his side, hands under a pillow and closes his eyes. His mind, however, is restless and sleep will not come.

 

***

After tossing around more times than he can count Luke gives up and sits. He pulls out his phone from his jeans and only has one thing in mind. He goes onto his Twitter timeline and sooner than later he comes across photos of Calum with fans at a familiar bar. A _very_ familiar bar. As in the bar from this hotel. How the fans got in doesn’t interest him.

 

Before he fully acknowledges it, he’s setting his feet on the floor with the plan to see for himself what Calum is up to. Or who is talking to Calum. Same thing.

 

He glances at his phone’s clock once more and sees that it’s been a little more than an hour since Calum left.

 

Luke sets his shoulders and stands straighter as he closes the door behind him and slides the hotel key card into his jean’s pocket.

***

 

Luke sits at the end of the bar, hoodie over his head, dark glasses over his eyes. Nobody from the bar glances more than once at him, the clientele used to the eccentric celebrities. The bartender hands him his drink after a moment and Luke peers over his drink at Calum who is at the other end of the bar. The only one who didn’t look up at his entrance. Calum is seated between two girls apparently deeply engrossed in what one of them is saying.

 

Luke frowns. Only two girls. He looks back at dim lit restaurant (obviously closed) that shares the same space with the bar and notices that there are is no hoard of girls, sitting in the vacant tables. Maybe all their fans have been escorted out.

 

 

He takes a sip of his drink and it burns all the way down to his stomach. He doesn’t spit it back out into the glass (like he did the first time) and instead focuses his attention on Calum and the women. Now that he pays better attention to the females in Calum’s company he realizes that they are much older than their typical fan and since there is not a hoard of females surrounding Calum then these women aren’t just fans. Or maybe aren’t fans at all but guests of this hotel. That thought burns hotter than the sip he is downing now.

 

After having two drinks and realizing that Calum is not going to leave any time soon, Luke decides to leave. He’s seen enough and jealousy and possessiveness are not feelings that he enjoys. He leaves money under his glass and walks out, hating the sinking in his stomach. _You caused this,_ are the words he hears all the way up to his room.

 

When he closes the hotel room, he leans back onto it. He breathes in deeply and everything begins to clear. It’s almost as if someone has taken off the cloth over his eyes. Luke is tired of pretending to not care about Calum more than a friend. _It’s obviously not working since Calum can see it???_ But it’s always been easier to ignore his feelings because he’s never truly acknowledged them.

 

Luke is acknowledging them now because he’s tired of having to answer questions about his perfect girl when he just wants to talk about his perfect boy, _the one sitting across from me, next to me._ The fear of rejection, of being shunned is no longer important or as important. It’s still there but the one thought, the one feeling that predominates is the want, the need to kiss and to hold and _yes be possessive over_ Calum. If he lets himself be then everything can be okay.

 

He sits back on the pillows on his bed, set on waiting until Calum returns to the room. Luke laughs at himself as he turns on the music to a low volume. He can’t believe it’s taken this long to realize, to understand that he’s never had a choice. All he was doing was wasting time, thinking that he could pretend that his feelings for Calum hadn’t intensified, changed. To be honest, his feelings had changed way before the kiss he and Calum shared. A kiss that he initiated. A kiss that would have been something more if Michael hadn’t interrupted them. _It’s time boys!_ Michael hadn’t commented about where they were or how close they’ve been as they walked back to make a toast at their second album launch party.

 

He’s always been astonished that Calum had never brought that up in their fights, _discussions_. Calum has never blamed him for changing their relationship, for making it less platonic and more physical. He rubs his palms against his eyes and stretches. He can’t believe how dumb he’s been. He lowers his hands and closes his eyes. The need for Calum exists and this time he doesn’t ignore it. He lets himself want because maybe after—maybe everything will change when they talk.

 

Luke is dozing off when he hears laughter and voices on the other side of the door. He straightens, realizing that an earphone fell out. His stomach turns over as he realizes what that laughter and voices means. Calum is not alone. He sits and before he can over think about what he should do, he opens the hotel door.

 

Calum is doubled over laughing, back facing Luke. The person with Calum is facing the door when Luke opens it. He hazily recognizes her face from one of the women who had been at the bar.

 

He smiles at her and she smiles back after a moment. No recognition at the sight of his face. _Huh, not a fan then_.

 

It’s not like he has a plan before he opens the door. His eyes meet hers and he realizes that if he doesn’t do something then Calum and that woman will do something. He’s not even mad at Calum for wanting to do that even with him in the room. It’s that, he supposes, there’s only so much rejection a person can take. _Or maybe he’s just stupid when it comes to Calum?_

 

Luke reaches to take a hold of one of Calum’s arms and turns him around. Momentary surprise on Calum’s face before Luke wraps an arm around him while with the other pulls him closer, across the door’s threshold, and into him. Luke stares into Calum’s eyes, lips hovering over Calum’s, waiting for Calum to push him away. Calum instead blinks several times, “I think I drank too much,” Luke smiles and then Calum closes his eyes, acquiescing. Luke takes a deep breath before licking into Calum’s mouth and deepening everything. Calum’s so pliant and giving.

 

When they part, Calum’s eyes are still closed and it breaks his heart. He rests his forehead on Calum’s as their breathing steadies and he whispers, “You’re beautiful.” He gives him a peck before pulling Calum closer, away from the door. He glances at the woman again, suddenly self-conscious and very much aware of what he’s done. She has her mouth opened in an O. He stares at her as he closes the door.

 

He takes several breaths, trying to quiet the pounding of blood in his ears. He won’t freak out. _This is what he wanted. This is what_ \--he turns to Calum immediately when Calum starts to laugh, a tinkering little giggle. Calum is leaning against the wall, long legs bent at the knees, “Oh my God,” Calum mutters, resting his head back. “Oh my God.”

 

“Are you okay?” His confidence draining away as Calum squeezes his eyes shut and mutters, “I’m _soooo_ drunk.”

 

“Calum--”

 

Calum opens his eyes and stares at him, “I dreamed that we kissed.”

 

Luke blinks at him.

 

“Oh we kissed!” Calum mouth open in an O. “Oh shit! Where is the woman?” Calum pushes away from wall but Luke pushes him back against it.

 

“Oh you’re definitely not a dream.”

 

Luke is at a loss for what to say. “Calum--” But then Calum is pushing away from the wall again and Luke follows him. “Where are you going?”

 

“I’m going to go hide in the bathroom.”

 

Luke steers Calum to the bed

 

“Hey!”

 

“Do you need to puke or something?” He asks instead and when Calum shakes his head Luke pushes Calum into a sitting position. Calum grunts in protest but doesn’t really put an effort to fight him.

 

Calum peers up at him, “We kissed again and she saw _us_.” Calum whispers.

 

Luke crouches in front of Calum but Calum looks away.

 

He doesn’t want to push and he knows that it’s not the right time to talk but he needs to say something. “Look at me.” He kneels against Calum’s legs and turns Calum’s face to his.

 

“I’ve been stupid.” Calum’s eyes are wide, “I like you. _A lot_. And even though I’m going to have to repeat myself tomorrow. I want to give us a shot.”

 

Calum’s eyes are wide and he seems at loss for words, scrunching his face in confusion, “You got jealous because I brought the--”

 

Luke doesn’t let him finish; he kisses him because he is tired of thinking about the woman and because he just want to kiss Calum. He licks into Calum’s mouth, swallowing the sounds Calum’s makes and Calum’s hands are in his hair.

 

Calum laughs against his lips once Luke comes up for air

 

“Just how drunk are you?”

 

Calum is quiet as he thinks but when Luke creates space between them, he pouts, “They kept buying me drinks.” He shrugs as if to say ‘ _What was I supposed to do?_ ’ and Luke will not call him adorable.

 

“So a tiny bit drunk?” Luke motions creating a tiny space his thumb and forefinger.

 

Calum grins and leans into his forehead, “Yeah, maybe a little,” he breathes and Luke holds his breath when Calum licks his bottom lip.

 

Against everything that his body wants, he says, “Then we should sleep.”

 

“What?” Calum exclaims, leaning away from him, “No sex?” Calum says eyes comically wide that Luke can’t help laughing.

 

“Don’t laugh at me.” Calum whines pushing him on the shoulder.

 

Luke smiles and hastens to add when Calum raises his hand again, “Wouldn’t you want to be sober for that?”

 

Calum frowns again, face impossibly serious, and then he smiles, cheekbones visible. A full complete toothed smile and Luke knows then that he’s finally done the right thing. Ironic that the best things seem to happen unplanned. He should think about that later.

 

Luke comes to the conclusion that he prefers much more to make Calum smile and laugh than to make him yell. (Although angry sex wouldn’t hurt to try—if _maybe him and Calum ever get that angry to try it???_ ) He shakes himself from the thoughts he’s having, “Let me get you some water and then we can go to sleep, okay? Or do you want to brush your teeth?”

 

Calum shakes his head and Luke gives in.

 

Yet once Calum drinks a bit of the water he decides that he’s too tired or too drunk to move from where he’s sitting and decides just to lay there, closing his eyes. (“Calum no.” Luke says when he sees Calum lying in the middle of the bed, feet resting on the floor.

 

“Don’t you want both of us to fit?”

 

Calum shakes his head, eyes still closed, arms spread out.

 

“Calum help me. I can carry you but it is so much easier if you moved up by yourself.” Luke says kneeling next to him on the bed.

 

Calum shakes his head and continues with his eyes closed.

 

Luke huffs, hands on his hips.)

 

Several minutes later (after setting a glass of water, and aspirin on the bedside table next to Calum and peeling off his jeans and turning off the lights), Luke is molded against Calum, arms wrapped around him. His nose rests on the back Calum’s neck, breathing him in, and something settles in his chest.

 

Sleep finally comes.

***

Luke opens his eyes and is met with brown eyes and tousled hair. He smiles, turning on his back to stretch.

 

“How do you feel?” Luke asks once he stops stretching

 

“Fine.” Calum answers after a beat, “Thank you for leaving aspirin and water on the table.”

 

Luke smiles in response, “How long have you been awake?” Luke asks gaze completely focused on Calum who is still watching him.

 

“Long enough to order energy drinks and toast.” Calum scrunches his face at the thought.

 

Luke smiles, “At least you know how to take care of yourself.”

 

“Yeah,” Calum voice fades and he looks away from Luke, biting his lip.

 

Luke can’t help the sudden tension rising in his stomach and he waits.

 

“Did you mean it? You really want—to give this a shot?” Calum finally asks voice hoarse.

 

Luke sighs, “Yes, I want to give us a try.” He gives Calum a small smile and snuggles closer to him.

 

“Good,” Calum answers, insecurity gone, and turns around and stretches over to get his phone from the bedside table, “because that woman took a picture and it’s all over Twitter or so Michael says.” Calum grins, handing him the phone.

 

Luke frowns as he looks at Michael’s texts but then remembers the phone in the woman’s hand as he closed the door in her face. _If he hadn’t been rude--_

“This doesn’t change your mind?” The insecurity has Luke dropping the phone next to him and gently pushing Calum on his back to straddle him. He settles on Calum’s thighs leaning closer to Calum’s face.

 

“How do I show you that I want you?”

 

Calum smiles big and wide, no sign of pain that before Luke knows it, Calum has switched their positions. Luke looks up at the boy with the big brown eyes and feels happier than he’s been in months.

 

“We have to talk to Michael and Ashton about--” Luke shushes him with his lips and pulls Calum flush against his body, hands settling on Calum’s hips.

 

“Uugghh!” Calum squawks, pushing against him.

 

Luke eases his grip on Calum alarmed, “What? What?! Does your head hurt? Do you--”

 

“You have morning breath.” Calum exclaims, pouting, “I brushed my teeth but you haven’t.”

 

Luke huffs.

 

Ten minutes later, Luke is out the door and pushing Calum onto his back.

 

Calum squawks again, this time in surprise, “What are you doing? Be careful I am hung-over.” Calum says beneath him.

 

“You took your pills.” Luke states, staring intensely at Calum as he responds.

 

“Ye--”

 

Luke kisses him and this time Calum doesn’t push him away. Instead Calum kisses Luke like he’s trying to map the inside of his mouth.

 

Luke grunts as Calum pushes him on his back. He stares breathless as Calum smirks before he’s moving down Luke’s body.

 

“What are you doing? Aren’t you _hung-over_? Doesn’t your head hurt?” Luke squeaks. Calum stares up at him until it’s too much. Luke tips his head back, closes his eyes, and tries to breathe through his nose.

 

Calum laughs and Luke looks down at him, eyes widening.

 

Calum has lowered his boxers past his hips; he’s looking at Luke’s penis with wide, wide eyes. “I didn’t think this through.”

 

Luke’s eyebrows rise higher.

 

“It’s big.” Calum breathes.

 

Luke blushes, “Come here.”

 

Luke pulls up his boxers as Calum sits next to him.

 

“What?” Calum raises his eyebrows, humor leaving his face.

 

“We’ll figure all _this_ later.” He makes a circular motion with his hand at the mention of _this_.

 

Calum stares at him, quiet and then a smile appears on his face, “So this is why you’re the smart one.”

 

Luke sticks his tongue out and Calum laughs before their lips meet.

 

“Come on lets sleep.” Luke says settling on his side.

 

Calum shakes his head, “I’m not tired.”

 

“Stop pouting Calum, you need rest, you’re hung-over.”

 

Calum crosses his arms over his chest. “You be the little spoon.”

 

“Calum.”

 

“Luke.”

 

“Calum.”

 

They stare at each other like they’re at a standoff but then Luke says, “I just wanna hold you.”

 

Calum stares and then laughs, “You’re so cheesy.”

 

“Shut up.” Luke smiles but he’s won. Calum lies down and Luke pulls him closer, arms wrapped around Calum.

 

Calum grunts, “You’re so needy.”

 

Luke smiles, “But you like it.”  


Calum says nothing and Luke pulls him a little closer.

 

He can hear Calum’s muffled laughter against his pillow.

 

Luke smiles against Calum’s hair, now he can be as needy as he wants and Calum won’t be sad or disappointed. Maybe Calum will be thrilled.

 

In the end, as Luke drifts off, he concludes that everything does seem to work better when it’s unplanned.

**Author's Note:**

> Can you name the song where the title for this fic comes from? Tbh, it's where the inspiration for this fic came from too. 
> 
> Thank you so much if you read it all!!! It would mean a lot if you left me a comment because I'd love to hear from you too. :)


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